As the average lifespan of human increases, the use of devices for monitoring a biosignal in a human body and assisting organs with impaired functions is increasing. For example, there are insertable cardiac monitors (ICMs) or cardiac pacemakers for observing the heartbeat of the heart, and human implantable medical devices such as spinal cord stimulators, vagus nerve stimulators, and deep brain stimulators.
As such, the increase in the demand of various human implantable medical devices promotes the development of new types of human implantable medical devices, such as blood pressure monitors (Non-Patent Document 4), glucose monitors (Non-Patent Document 5), artificial retinas (Non-Patent Document 6), and related studies (Non-Patent Documents 7-11).
All the implantable medical devices require power so as to operate within the body. However, since such devices currently use a battery having a limited capacity as a power source, periodic re-operation is required to replace the depleted battery. For example, a battery of a pacemaker can be usually used for 5 to 8 years, and repeated re-operations are required to replace the battery (Non-Patent Document 2).
In order to solve the problem that must periodically re-operate so as to replace the battery of the human implantable medical device, research has recently been conducted into in vivo power production technologies using electrochemical reactions (Non-Patent Documents 12 and 13), piezoelectric effect (Non-Patent Documents 14-16), wireless power transmission (Non-Patent Documents 32-35), and various application technologies (Non-Patent Document 17). However, the in vivo power production method is expected t require significant improvement so as to overcome the limitations such as the amount of power produced, blood compatibility, durability, and necessity of thoracic surgery.
The following Non-Patent Documents are provided for reference in order to help understanding of the present invention.
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